Tackling violence against women & girls: how we’re improving the criminal justice response to sexual violence
Sexual violence has devastating and life-long consequences for victims. It is therefore vital that the criminal justice system can function effectively and tackle these appalling crimes.
Hannah Ross from the Criminal Law Policy Unit and Elyse Jenkins from the Victim and Witness Policy Unit explain a new cross-government review of how rape cases are dealt with by the criminal justice system, announced as part of the refreshed Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy.
The Crime Survey of England and Wales estimates 20% of women and 4% of men have experienced some type of sexual assault since the age of 16 — that’s an estimated 3.4 million female victims and 631,000 male victims.
The scale and severity of this issue led the government to introduce its Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy in 2016 — to improve support for victims, bring perpetrators to justice and prevent these crimes happening in the first place.
The Strategy has been refreshed this week and includes a commitment to a cross-sector, end-to-end review of how rape and sexual violence cases are handled in the criminal justice system. The review will be overseen by a new Sexual Offences Sub-Group of the Criminal Justice Board.
While we continue to work on ways to encourage all victims of rape and serious sexual violence to report abuse to the police, it is positive that there has been an increase in the number of reported cases since 2014. This increase is partly down to better reporting processes as well as more victims feeling able to come forward and report these devastating crimes.
However, it is concerning that this increase in reporting has not translated into more prosecutions. According to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), data from 2017/18 actually shows a reduction in the volume of cases that are charged and prosecuted. It is therefore essential that these declines are investigated so we have clarity on what is driving these changes and can take the appropriate steps to improve outcomes — to ensure justice is served and victims are properly supported throughout the process.
The review will start with a deep dive into the data to understand the trends — tracking how these cases progress through police and CPS processes and into court. We will then investigate any issues that might be presenting barriers to justice, and finally develop an action plan to ensure such issues are addressed.
The new Sexual Offences Sub-Group of the Criminal Justice Board will drive this review. It will be made up of senior representatives from across the Justice system and report to the Criminal Justice Board, chaired by the Justice Secretary David Gauke, taking vital input from victims and third sector organisations. The review will be the Sub-Group’s first commission, but its remit will allow the Criminal Justice Board to provide unprecedented scrutiny into how sexual offences are dealt with, and real force to drive improvements forward.
By introducing this review we hope to build confidence in the justice process and reassure victims of our on-going commitment to improve support for vulnerable women and girls.
The VAWG Strategy refresh also builds upon key commitments made in the Victims Strategy to improve support for victims of sexual violence. In November last year, the Ministry of Justice announced a 10% increase in funding for sexual violence support services. This funding — now totaling £24m over three years — will go towards vital services providing advice, support and counselling to victims to help them recover from these devastating crimes. The Ministry of Justice will be announcing successful recipients of this funding by the end of the month.
